Sabino Canyon Coronado National Forest, Mar 18, 2013

Visiting the Sabino Canyon Recreational area today with our good friends from Illinois. This incredible mountain canyon has a paved road that a shuttle drives 21 miles through the canyon.  There are nine stops with various side hiking trails.  The snow melt fed  Sabino Creek bubbles and flows in and out, over and through on either side of the trail. The Catalina Mountain views are spectacular. The shuttle costs $8 for adults and you can get off and on at any of the 9 stops.  Do plan on visiting this canyon, east of Tucson if you ever visit southern Arizona.

 

Thimble Rock, the highest peak is visible from downtown Tucson.
Desert saguaro and other cactus grow on the canyon sides.   

The water in this pool was 60 degrees.  We walked from Stop 9 downward to Stop 8 and got these great shots of the black and white striped rocks called  Gneiss metamorphic rocks. It looks like someone took black paint and streaked the white rocks.   But the black color comes from mineral grains that were heated under tremendous pressure.  They are also called Bandit Rocks.  Yes, there are people who have walked down through the canyon from Stop 9 to get a close up view and to go swimming.  The trees and plants along the river are very green.

This is out of sequence.  We are now on the trail next to the striped rocks you saw from above.  The water flows through the break in the rocks to make this gentle water fall. 

Looking from above again

 We are now at Stop 8 and are walking over the exposed rocky trail down to the water.

Clear water

It is hard to imagine where all this water comes from.  The mountains look desert like and very dry.

Tubac 2013

Tubac, Arizona is 30 miles from the Mexico border north of Nogales.  It is a unique artist colony with a variety of expensive and not so expensive  pictures and jewelry, metal sculpture, restaurants, and of course the Tubac Golf Resort ( founded by Bing Crosby for a lovely Hollywood star "getaway."  The Movie Tin Cup was filmed in the bar and on one of the fairways).  It is close to the Santa Cruz River and has an oasis like look about it.  The actual shopping area consisting of 4 streets each with 2 blocks for gift shops and studios, look a little like Long Grove in Illinois.  Here are just some of the wonderful gardens and furniture that can be seen,  I was too busy shopping to take enough pictures to give a thorough view of it all.
This is a beautifully carved wooden bench.

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St Francis statues have always been popular.  

 Flowers and decorative pottery are everywhere

 If you've been to Arizona, you know this is called a "wash" and is prepared to channel heavy rain water.  The desert has little absorption capacity and any rain can turn into a rushing torrent.  It is hard to believe that Arizona has a monsoon season.
These steps lead to the sculpture garden.  Here just a few of my favorite sculptures

"Spirit Totem"

 A new view of a smiling St Francis.  I wish you could see his joyful expression.

 This is a called "Saguaro Skeleton"  it is carved out of wood and replicates the actual inside wooden like channels in a saguaro.

Sculptures of these children are so life like.  I wish these pictures could show their expressions

 I have a granddaughter who read stacks of books like this sculpture of a little girl, called "Bookworm."

 Baseball Player

 Crack the Whip exhibits tremendous energy and action.

The wonder of a butterfly that landed on the little child's finger

Sunset in OroValley.  End of a great day

March 17, 2013 St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's day from Tilly and Terry O' Tortoise from Oro Valley, Az.

This charming couple decorate the side of the road along La Canada Road.  They are very versatile   For example, they were decked out in Valentine outfits in February.  We'll monitor the situation should they become bunnies for Easter.

Quiet days March 14, 2013

We've been researching another place to stay for next year.  Jim loves Tubac, the oasis look of it, the less dense housing complexes and the extremely green Tubac Resort.  The golf course is really spectacular too.  So we've wandered around Tubac and Green Valley.  We have 2 really nice town homes on our short list.

The weather has warmed up.  Today, I have s sleeveless top and will probably not need a sweater. Previously, we dressed in layers until the sin warmed up.  Today the temperature was 59 at 7am.  Summer is coming.  We get a slice of sunshine on the patio from 8:30 till 9:30.  Today I finished Follet's Third Twin while sitting in the sun on the patio.  It was a very good book.  I found Follet from the historical fiction triology of "Fall of the Giants." Both Jim and I have done a lot of reading.   This is my list.

Feb , 13	Standing in the Rainbow	Fannie Flagg
Feb , 13	When were Grownups	Anne Tyler
Feb , 13	Fall of Giants	Folliet
Feb , 13	Union Quilters	Chiaverini
Feb , 13	A Trick of Light	Louise Penny
Mar, 13	Ladder of Years	Anne Tyler
Mar, 13	Wedding Quilt	Chiaverini
Mar, 13	Third Twin	Folliet

I also brought yarn to knit a sweater, a Christmas tablecloth to embroider, and Christmas sequin felt ornaments.  We can't always 'talk" to the cacti!!!

We also catch the local lectures about this area.  Yesterday was Wild Flowers of the Sonoran Desert. God's creation is amazing.  The "ephemeral flowers" require temperatures of 59 in the winter and no higher than 80's in the spring.  They prefer no more than 1/2 inch of rain from October through June.  Any variation means some won't bloom at all. Since I've come to appreciate the brown, dried up "gravely" desert views, I am very interested in how plants survive here.
Today, we'll attend a discussion of the Books of the Apocraph, part of the Lenten series at Mountain View Methodist Church.   The church welcomes snow birds and it is interesting to hear the pastor explain some of these ancient books.
Saturday there is a digital lecture on Hiking the Grand Canyon.  Last year I traveled about 100 yards on Bright Angel Path and KNOW I will not ever hike to the canyon.  Saturday, I'll see it digitally from a folding chair.  

I forgot to tell you about the Tucson Festival of Books. 450 booths on March 10.  There is always so much to see and lots of used books for sale.  I got some for the grandkids and some rare Tom Swift books.   Here's a picture from last year.                                                          
The Festival goes for 2 days, but Saturday was a cold and rainy day,so we went to Tohono Chul on that day for their exhibit. Sunday was sunny and cool-perfect for hiking among crowds and seeing all the exhibits.

 University of Arizona Garden on the Mall Fairy Duster plant in bloom

The only Boojam tree that I have found is also in the U of AZ Garden.  It has lots of small branches with tiny green leaves.  














Off to the pool!!

March 9, 2013 Tohono Chul exhibits

My favorite garden park also has a museum exhibit hall.  These pictures are from the paper From all sides exhibit and the Art of the Cosmos.

Paper boats
The materials woven into these sheets of paper are incredibly intricate and beautiful.

 A dimensional picture with leaves of paper folded outward to reveal an inner picture.











Would you believe this is a tree made of 1,100 shopping bags!!!!  At last, a decorative way to store those paper bags if you have space.
 
 This is a paper collage picture is constructed of strips of colored paper from other publications.  When placed strategically, they form this picture of a house.

 Matchbook Paper Collage.
Some among us may not remember what paper match books looked like.  This is the cardboard paper base that the matches were attached to.










This picture is the tiny folded part of match books where you struck the match to cause the flame to ignite.

 Desert Moon.
I am always amazed that random media can be used to make a picture- no paints, no photography, just specially constructed paper .












Art of the Cosmos
This is just one of the incredible pictures of the heavens, this one by David Allen Harvey

Thunder Storms in Oro Valley Mar 8, 2013

I know you've not had much fun with winter storms Q and Rocky, but look what we got today ( March 8, 2013).  That lovely intense blue sky gave way to this angry "mob" of clouds fiercely colliding with the mountains.  We got high winds ( rough on the palm trees), rain, hail, sleet, thunder and lightning.  The temperature went from 63  in the morning to 43.   Someone said this is what the monsoon season feels like except it is warmer.  It is really strange to see puddles of water in the desert.  I reserve the right to be thankful for this wet, cool weather if the desert flowers bloom vigorously later this month.  Sorry, if you are tired of seeing mountain pictures.  Since I'm a flatlander, I am constantly amazed at the changes in color, depth and dimension of these Catalina Mountains.  Sunlight, sunset, clouds and rain highlight different  bluffs, crags, and slopes.  I can only wonder at the violence that formed them and stretched this valley below.  

March 6, 2013 Tohono Chul Gardens

Today we re visited Tohono Chul Gardens.  It's been 2 weeks and the desert bloom is very slow in coming.  Tucson had their second coldest winter this year and the plants have not really warmed up.  The temperature did get to 80 today but quickly was replaced by 60s when the cloud bank came in.

First flowers

This garden just hasn't got started

The little purple flowers are Purple Verbena.

Sleeping coyote sculpture

Quails are my favorite sculpture.

I am not sure what kind of bird this is.  It is a new sculpture.

Blind Prickly Pear - it has no spines 

 If there are no trees for a fence, use Octillo branches.   How do  they scrape the sharp spines off?

 Tiny little flower buds just beginning to peak around the leaf.

 First cactus flower.

 Someone(probably a javelina) has been munching on this Prickly Pear.  Looks like too many sharp needle like spines to chew.










This rock wall displays the different rock layers in the mountains surrounding Tucson.  I can't seem to get a clear enough picture of all the layers.   You can get an idea from the poster explanations. 

  

Cape Agave.

These little red blooms are tiny bell shaped flowers that hummingbirds love.